Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Review: Pigs #5

Nate Cosby, Ben McCool and Breno Tamura’s series about a KGB sleeper cell in Cuba continues to be all kinds of awesome. We’re really starting to get to know some of the characters, particularly Felix, and this issue ramps up the intensity as it begins a new arc. The team are assigned to break into a prison to make a kill, and tensions between Felix, Viktor and Havana boil over. A compromise is reached and a plan formed, but sufficed to say, things do not go well. While there’s not a whole lot of action in the book (although there’s a great deal of violence), the pacing is superb. Suspense is built up when it needs to be, deep character moments are powerful and even the ‘stand around discussing our plans’ scenes move along at a steady pace. The dialogue and character development play a major part in keeping the book interesting and a joy to read.

Tamura’s art is rough grimy, which compliments the story well. It won’t be to everyone’s taste, but it serves the story well. The new character introduced at the end of the book is a perfect example of how the art works. Dark, gritty, sinister and violent. The character will no doubt be controversial, and adds a totally unstable new element to the dynamic of the story. I’m really excited to see where it all goes.